US Military to conduct civil reconnaissance in 5 eastern North Carolina counties, Jan 2009

Monday night, Captain Bill Adams briefed the Bertie County Commissioners on the possible exercise that will be conducted jointly in Bertie County, Brunswick County, Carteret County, Onslow County and Pamlico County.

“We go overseas and operate the civil component,” Adams said. “We do humanitarian assistance and determine where aid and assistance can best be applied.”
Capt. Adams said the training will be held January 19-23 when the (97th Civil Affairs) Battalion deploys to the five coastal counties. The teams will conduct civil reconnaissance focusing on local leadership and local infrastructure.

The battalion will look at such things as police, fire, emergency management, sanitation, public health, public works and public education.

“At the end of the week, one of the five counties will be chosen to receive a follow up element to conduct more in-depth assessments,” Capt. Adams said. “This choice will be based on information gathered by the five teams during their assessments.”
The second phase will be held January 26-30 at the site of the county chosen. The C Company will conduct their planning process and conduct telephonic coordination with the county prior to arrival.
The final phase will be slated for February 2-6 when C Company will deploy to the selected county. They will divide into five teams and work in five different municipalities.

The conduct of the operation includes:

• All soldiers will be in civilian attire;

• No weapons will be carried;

• No tactical vehicles will be used;

• No tactical or covert training will be conducted;

• Soldiers will stay in local hotels;

• Teams will always conduct prior coordination for assessments or meetings, they will not show up uninvited;

• Teams will obey local laws and will show the utmost courtesy to local residents and county officials; and

• Units will notify the sheriff’s department and/or other designated county points of contact of their presence immediately upon arrival.

“Many of the areas we go to are coastal areas and we tried to pick geographic parallels,” Capt. Adams said. “We wanted an urban, semi-urban and rural area.”

Cherry asked if any commissioner had an objection to the training and no commissioner voiced opposition.

“It seems there is no opposition to your request,” Cherry said.

Commission Vice Chairman L.C. Hoggard III asked if the group would work with local fire departments, police departments and the like and was told they would.

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The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.

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(The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007):

..... just a few paragraphs into the $500 billion, 591-page bill, to undermine a centuries-old tenet of American law: the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which restricts the president’s ability to deploy the Army inside the United States.

Before the bill passed, the president could deploy troops inside the United States only if he invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows for deployment only “to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.” The new law expands the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition”—and such a “condition” is not defined or limited.

Lo and behold, President Bush has done just this, deploying an entire brigade from Iraq for domestic activities inside the United States. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has, since October 1st, been under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force. Yet the mainstream media has raised nary an eyebrow at this striking expansion of presidential power taken in defiance of centuries of legal precedent—yet another in a series so large as to defy calculation.

Jeff Stein of Congressional Quarterly is perhaps the only reporter who even noticed the language in the fall of 2006, and virtually no other mainstream media outlet even mentioned the action. Even more surprising, a pitched battle erupted in Congress over just this issue, and lasted over a year. And still, we’ve seen no coverage.

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Commission Chairman Norman M. Cherry Sr. asked what interested the Battalion in Bertie County.
“Many of the areas we go to are coastal areas and we tried to pick geographic parallels,” Capt. Adams said. “We wanted an urban, semi-urban and rural area.”

Cherry asked if any commissioner had an objection to the training and no commissioner voiced opposition.

“It seems there is no opposition to your request,” Cherry said.

Commission Vice Chairman L.C. Hoggard III asked if the group would work with local fire departments, police departments and the like and was told they would.
Commissioner J. Wallace Perry then asked if a written assessment would be provided. He was told a written assessment and debriefing would be available to the board if Bertie County was chosen for the second and third phases.

“If Bertie County is chosen, we would like that,” Cherry closed.

Civil Affairs specialists identify critical requirements needed by local citizens in combat or crisis situations. They also locate civil resources to support military operations, mitigate non-combatant injury or incident, minimize civilian interference with military operations, facilitate humanitarian assistance activities, and establish and maintain communication with civilian aid agencies and organizations.

Civil Affairs Specialists are primarily responsible for researching, coordinating, conducting and participating in the planning and production of civil affairs related documents, while enabling the civil-military operations of the supported commander. Some of your duties as a Civil Affairs Specialist may include:

Helping to plan U.S. government interagency procedures for national or regional emergencies
Assisting with civil-military planning and support
Coordinating military resources to support reconstitution or reconstruction activities
Supporting national disaster, defense or emergency assistance and response activities
Fostering and maintaining dialogue with civilian aid agencies and civilian relief and assistance organizations
Establishing mechanisms for emergency coordination and administration where political-economic structures have been incapacitated
Providing emergency coordination and administration where political-economic structures have been incapacitated